I'm hardly the only political observer who blames Hillary Clinton's general election defeat to Donald Trump in part on personal attacks on Clinton first made by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and his backers. Those attacks from her left laid the groundwork for copycat attacks lobbed by Donald Trump....Donald Trump, copycat?
The "personal attacks" Brock cites are — she got " $15 million from Wall Street through [her] super PAC," it was a problem her husband to be heading a foundation collecting money from foreign governments when she was Secretary of State, and she used the term "superpredators" and "everybody knew it was a racist term."
Much of this column is about protecting the image of Beto O'Rourke:
The real problem for Sanders' supporters seems to be that this "Kennedyesque golden boy," as one has derided O'Rourke, seems perfectly poised to steal Sanders' thunder among millennials and white liberals with his fresh energy and personal charisma....Falsely? What was false in Bernie's attacks on Hillary? I don't think Bernie gave Trump material that Trump wouldn't have found for himself.
We've seen this movie before: Sanders' assault on Clinton's progressive credentials were pernicious in large part because they were not about policy disputes at all, but rather intended to falsely impugn Hillary's character and integrity.
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Bernie was remarkably restrained.
Hillary Clinton had no progressive credentials and wasn't running on any. Just as in 2008, against Barack Obama, she positioned herself as a centrist. Bernie and Trump were supposed to be extremist foils for her story of triumph.
Somewhere she got confused about being a centrist and being an oligarch.
Why is Bernie even allowed to participate i a Democrat Party primary?
Hi entire political schtick for the past 40 years has been that he is NOT a Democrat buy an "independent"
Democrats should say: "he's not one of us. This is what happens when you support off-brand candidates. Not a Democrat Party problem"
Of course, they need his vote so they won't. But what's he gonna do, vote with Republicans?
John Henry
Bernie didn't give a damn about H>er emails, even though he should have.
Hillary had 40 years worth of material to use. She's the easiest target since the large paper guy 5 yards away from me at the shooting range. I hate to use simple ad hominem attacks on someone, but David Brock really is an insane person. NBC is simply lost in a deep, deep hole and cannot stop digging. They will never have credibility again in my lifetime. The name of their news blog is 'Think'. Seriously.
David Brock actually makes his living digging up dirt on people, and if he cannot find it, he makes it up. This is how he makes his living. Who pays him for this stuff? Think.
Sanders campaign was "too male" and "too white" and thus, ipso facto, evil. It must be stopped.
It wasn't Bernie's "false" attacks; it was Bernie's Jedi mind trick that convinced Hillary to ignore Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.
Bernie: "You don't need to visit those states."
Hillary: "I don't need to visit those states."
And it's Bobbie O'Rourke, not "Beto"
John Henry
Methinks Brock has a man-crush on Beto.
And it's Bobbie O'Rourke, not "Beto"
John Henry
David Brock? Shows how far NBC has fallen when they let that slime mold use their platform. But anything to protect the next "Chosen One," eh?
David Brock might just be the creepiest, sleaziest political operative on Planet Earth. A Hillary butt-boy to the core, maybe now he's "transitioning" to becoming a Beto booster.
True, Bernie Sanders the wild-eyed socialist would do immense harm to this country, if ever he got power. But, to his credit, he has a bit of integrity (unlike Hillary) because he and his followers actually believe the socialist nonsense. So, he persists.
Ideally, it would be healthy for our country to debate fairly the merits of socialism v capitalism, and have Bernie defend what's happening in Venezuela and Cuba and all other socialist paradises around the globe.
So, I say, Run, Bernie, Run!
John Borell - LOL. Sanders looks more like Yoda than Alec Guiness, but I can definitely see that scene just as you scripted.
The Podesta wikileaks docs indicated some sort hands-off deal between the Clinton and Sanders campaigns that included not criticizing the Clintons personal finances. One of the great ironies of the campaign was that Donna Brazile called Bernie to apologize for stacking the deck against Bernie, unaware that Bernie was in bed with the Clintons, stacking the deck against others.
And out of all the "attacks" on Her Royal Pantsuit, which ones were in any way false?
johnhenry100 said...
Why is Bernie even allowed to participate i a Democrat Party primary?
The Democrats, as a whole, don't need Bernie in the primarys.
However, every Democrat candidate needs Bernie's supporters to vote for them in the primaries. So nobody in the party is in a position to tell Bernie to get lost.
johnhenry100 said...
And it's Bobbie O'Rourke, not "Beto"
Why? I assume his legal name is Robert. If he is going to go by a nickname, why do you get to choose what nickname he goes by?
( You, of course, are welcome to call him whatever you want. )
rightguy said< "Methinks Brock has a man-crush on Beto."
Probably considering he's a humongous gay.
He's also - as Bay Area Guy said - one of the "creepiest, sleaziest political operatives on planet earth." This might actually be an understatement. I can't find it but there was an expose piece where some DNC insiders were talking about the inner workings, and working with Brock, during the 16' cycle where one guy was on record saying he's certifiably insane. He's apparently got significant connections with the Vanderbilt heirs (to include the CNN gay dude), as well as being the boyfriend of James Alefantis, of DC Comet Pizza and Ping Pong fame (also connected to the Vanderbilts). It's the only thing that keeps this guy from getting kicked to the curb.
Seriously unhinged.
Now if a Communist from Vermont can beat your candidate simply by pointing out that Clintons are corrupt, then the game is over... unless maybe the MI-6 and a Criminal FBI cabal can be used to set up a Russians really did it all propaganda hoax.
But all of Brock's patented smears are suddenly powerless in the age of Trump.
In any case, if O'Rourke can't handle the heat, he should stay out of the kitchen, to coin a phrase.
Didn't Bernie side with Hillary on the e-mail scandal in one of their debates? He said the American people were "sick and tired" of hearing about Hillary's e-mails; I said "Bernie just lost the nomination."
"After losing the Texas Senate race to incumbent Ted Cruz, O'Rourke nonetheless has shot to the top in Democratic primary polls since Election Day, overshadowing both Sanders and another left-wing favorite, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
In politics you shoot up, not down."
This needed an editor.
This kind of talk will backfire and have the opposite effect.
Brock knows Bernie was hand-picked by Hillary and paid to run against her to help position her as a centrist and dispel the widespread idea that her candidacy was a coronation.
IIB,
Because Bobbie is the name he used until he went into politics. Before he decided to become a fake Mexican.
Bobbie is not a nickname, is it? I think it is a "diminutive" of his given name.
T-Bone or Ko-Ko would be nicknames
John Henry
A Pleasant Reminder: Hillary Clinton is still not President.
This fact was mostly produced by three men: (1) Donald Trump, (2) Bernie Sanders and (3) Bill Clinton.
A big shout-out also to whoever convinced her not to visit Wisc. Maybe, that was an old white guy, too!
As a Wisconsin resident, I can't think of one reason why Hillary would have done any better had she visited the state. Crooked Hillary sucks.
David Brock might just be the creepiest, sleaziest political operative on Planet Earth. A Hillary butt-boy to the core, maybe now he's "transitioning" to becoming a Beto booster.
Sid Blumenthal begs to differ.
Brock is correct, because of media bias and the publics willingness to only believe "facts" from their side of the political divide. When a Democrat is attacked from the right - fellow Dems rally round and scream liar. When the same exact allegations come from the left- media report and Democrat voters take the allegations much more seriously.
I am wondering if the pundits, editorial writers and journalists who are engaging in communicative performances to boost Candidate A a bit and undermine Candidate B a bit have an awareness that the fact that they are making these moves is evident to readers, or whether they instead believe that readers will take it all at face value as if the pundit is casting out words at us based on some superior objective wisdom they have graciously chosen to impart to us.
"Falsely? What was false in Bernie's attacks on Hillary?"
Bernie treated Hillary very gently overall, as he surely had plenty of truly negative material to work with.
But, Hillary lost and (dare one say it?) Trump won. And therefore, blame must be assigned.
Applying Occam's Razor would lead one to blame the candidate herself, but if/when that's politically unacceptable, well, blame for the loss still must be assigned.
What remains truly strange in this election are the significant number of voters who switched from Bernie to Trump after Bernie failed to win the nomination.
A big shout-out also to whoever convinced her not to visit Wisc. Maybe, that was an old white guy, too!
Whoever had the idea to send Chelsea to campaign in Wisconsin in H>er stead was a genius.
It's illegal to say anything bad about mamma Corruption queen, queen of the money grub.
Sanders ran his hands thru some pretty girl's hair and then pestered her all day.
Once upon a time. MeToo#
Somehow, I read this as David Brooks, which made it kinda weird.
John Henry is my wife's nickname for my ahem
" but rather intended to falsely impugn Hillary's character and integrity."
This cannot possibly be true, as Hillary possesses neither of those qualities.
"What remains truly strange in this election are the significant number of voters who switched from Bernie to Trump after Bernie failed to win the nomination."
I think this leads to what Brock means, that the "poison" was the Bernie bros who wouldn't slide over to Hillary Clinton in the general. It wouldn't surprise me if the margin in a couple of close states didn't consist of Sanders supporters who looked at the wikileaks material and decided they'd been screwed.
"Falsely? What was false in Bernie's attacks on Hillary?"
He pulled his punches.
But then, as an "independent" in need of Dem votes, he couldn't afford to alienate moderates or appear to be too mean to a woman.
Funny how, in the party of identity politics, identities turn out to be so malleable. Socialist Bernie becomes Dem during campaign season, then switches back; half-white O, raised by whites and Indonesians, is the first "black" president; Bobbie O'Rourke becomes "Beto." Next thing you know, two-time plagiarist Joe "Hands" Biden turns into the trustworthy voice of experience.
All Dems pull their punches. But now, even that is not enough.
"Can't be allowed?!"
Who's gonna stop it?
Blogger Dickin'Bimbos@Home said...
All Dems pull their punches. But now, even that is not enough.
It's those Clinton FBI files... anyway what do you expect from a former log cabin republican?
David Brock might just be the creepiest, sleaziest political operative on Planet Earth. A Hillary butt-boy to the core, maybe now he's "transitioning" to becoming a Beto booster.
Sid Blumenthal begs to differ.
-------------------------------------------
You just know that on Sunday mornings, Sid Blumenthal and David Brock will laze around in bed together, sucking each other's cock while listening in rapturous ecstasy to Hillary's "What Happened" on audible books.
Sorry for the imagery.
I am not Laslo.
The corruptocrat party are now trying to abolish the electoral college. You know the constitutional brilliance that gives all states a voice. We can't have that. We must allow only CA and NY to choose.
Running in the Democrat primary was good for Bernie. After the dust settled, Bernie and Jane Sanders bought a third home on the shores of Vermont's Lake Champlain for $600,000. I was in the wrong business I guess.
They're worried Bernie's brand of crazy has gone viral.
Bob is young and he has some skeletons in his closet. Shut up, tho.
m̶i̶l̶l̶i̶o̶n̶a̶i̶r̶e̶s̶ ̶ and Billionaires!
I think most everyone can see why I have no appreciation of or for Davy Brooks.
What is interesting the last week or so is how media outlets are not just backing Democrats and slamming Republicans, which has been the norm for about 100 years. Media outlets are now picking sides and backing some Democrats against other Democrats, and going negative as they do it. Which has major MSM outlets inadvertently providing ammo to the eventual GOP candidate. Say, if the eventual candidate is Biden, Trump (or whomever) will be able to pull negative quotes from the NYT's fawning pieces on Harris.
I am sure that this is being fed by Dem operatives advancing this or that candidate, and the media whores all want to get in on the ground floor of the successful campaign (and maybe become Presidential Press Sec'y some day), but from 30,000 feet and looking at the Dem Party as a whole, this may not be a good thing.
Diversity politics or color judgments has been politically congruent for too long and it threatens to force a schism among the Democrat factions. Their Pro-Choice religious doctrine or avoidance of reconciliation is dysfunctional and progressive.
Henry said...
John Borell - LOL. Sanders looks more like Yoda than Alec Guiness, but I can definitely see that scene just as you scripted.
I believe the correct lines were:
"These aren't the states you were looking for"
"These aren't the state we were looking for; move alone"
I'm hardly the only political observer who blames Hillary Clinton's general election defeat to Donald Trump in part on personal attacks on Clinton first made by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and his backers.
Clinton is to blame for losing. Clinton is to blame for losing.
I don't understand why political observers have this blind spot with respect to the Clintons.
Hillary wasn't nominated, she coronated.
How many debates were there, anyway? And the questions were softballs, and Bernie refused to attack Hillary on anything other than not being 100% Leftist. Which probably helped her.
But then brock is a well known liar and crook.
That's not what she told me, Howard.
She said she used a diminutive for your ahem. Doesn't sound very steel driving to me.
Actually, "ahem" would make a very good diminutive nickname.
John Henry
I always knew Brock was a cretin, but seriously? Sanders treated Clinton with kid gloves, and even the critiques he made were routinely buried and smothered by the media covering the 2016 Democratic nomination process. As I have pointed out many times in this forum alone- Sanders' refusal to really go after Clinton's character flaws was the reason he lost the nomination. Had he went after her right at the start, he might well be sitting in the Oval Office today.
Sanders didn't realize until it was too late that he could beat Clinton. When he started his campaign, he did so thinking there was no way to win- that is why he didn't really make a full effort.
Actually, I remember wishing Bernie would attack her for very legit issues. He bailed her out of the illegal server and misuse of classified information.
Run, Bernie, Run!
A girl can dream, JH
Hillary was a turd sandwich and everyone knew it, including voters. Because Bernie wasn't doing handsprings at every bite is the reason Hillary lost? Seriously? It's almost like the democrats/MSM understand how deeply unpopular their positions are and can't afford the routine scrutiny a presidential candidate must go through or something.
I think Brock was talking more about the wacko Bernie Bros than Sanders himself. They probably discouraged some less wacko Dems from voting in the general.
If only Bernie had known what an Email server was.
He said the American people were "sick and tired" of hearing about Hillary's e-mails; I said "Bernie just lost the nomination."
His supporters didn't put Hillary away when they had the chance. As much as they disliked her, they weren't confident enough in Bernie to burn the boats and make it all or nothing.
Oh well, at least Bernie got to wordsmith the Democratic Par...ty Plat...for...m....
Sorry, cracked up while typing that.
I used to get weird looks when I would tell people that Sanders was my second choice after Trump. Despite a lot of the dumb ideological arguments that surround Sanders (e.g. socialist, communist, etc.), he is relatively realistic and is honest. He is basically a New Deal democrat. Sanders is sensible on corporatism. He is sensible on foreign policy. And he at least recognizes that loose mass immigration is a big business gambit for low wages. He has also said some sensible things about the gun control issue. Nonetheless, Sanders remains partially trapped by the SJW contingent of the left-wing movement. They have displaced the traditional economic inequality concerns of the Sanders wing with the identity politics grievance machine wing of the movement. The "Bernie bros" slur was an attack from that wing.
They don't want a primary. They want a coronation.
Hillary's character was bad; her integrity was non-existent. And that's the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God.
"Superpredator" was used specifically to NOT be racist, as liberals understand it (they don't, of course). It was used to explain the high rate of criminality among Blacks by claiming that it was caused not by the general run of Blacks being more criminal than other races, but by a few bad apples, the "superpredators" blowing the curve.
Blacks and Leftists assure us that the problem of Black criminality, if you can call it a problem, is entirely Whitey's fault, just like they always have.
Is it possible to "falsely" accuse Queen Cacklepants of anything?
In Brock’s world, no criticism of Queen Canklepants “can be allowed.”
You see, freedom of speech is so retrograde.
The First Amendment was designed so the people would have no choice but to trust the word of Democrats in power, according to Hillary.
Go read up on David Brock.
He's pond scum with a bad haircut.
That's he's taken as a serious commentator by the MSM, tells you all you need to know.
it was a problem her husband to be heading a foundation collecting money from foreign governments when she was Secretary of State
I, ah, I do the occasional internal investigation into bribery and this is not exactly a grey area. Large donations to a charitable organsation run by the spouse or close personal friend of a senior government official are what you might call a "red flag." Not indicative of guilt on its own, but it sends up alam bells any time you see something like that in a company's books.
Always question the passive voice. Please tell us, precisely, WHO should not allow this?
Jesus Christ it's sad that a spittle flecked old fool screaming himself red in the face about revolution is considered presidential material. He is not sensible, grounded or practical. The moron has been at the helm in Vermont for well over 30 years, mayor, governor, senator. Can he be credited with any improvement in the living conditions or welfare of the citizens? Sanders and his stupid wife are politburo commies, making themselves rich robbing the public.
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